Merry Christmas from the Edge!

Knowing that this year was going to be, well.... different, I worked ahead to get some presents done. If you can manage it, this is really the way to go. You get the fun of making presents without the stress of last-minute sewing and worrying if it will be done in time. I think there are more sewn presents this year than many others!
The gift of the year was definitely pillows... Christmas pillow covers and pillow cases for the little ones (and some teenager-y ones too!) Last January, I went a little wild and made a pile of pillow cases.
I even wrote a tutorial. You know, in case you want to make some too. That Christmas fabric will soon be on sale!
I also made pillow covers for  Himself's brother and his SO... I blogged about them here. Love this fabric and the Jawbreaker pattern from Jaybird Quilts!

For the 'Rents, pillows from another Jaybird pattern, Candy Dish. This one uses charm squares, but I cut into my Christmas stash instead. These will coordinate with the Christmas tree pants I made a couple years back.

And for Himself's parents, more pillows! These also coordinate with the tree skirt I made for them. I had lots of fun doing those EPP hexies and the other pillow is the plus pattern that started it all!

For two of my favourite crafty girls, Miss E and Miss O, I whipped up some Noodlehead Road Trip Cases. I blogged about the process here. They loved them! I suspect that the one on the right is already fully stocked with Rainbow Loom paraphernalia and the one on the right has some sweet art supplies in it!

The largest project completed for this year is J-Boy's Good Old Hockey Game quilt, one of my projects for The Library Project. There's a Friday Finish post in the works on this one... getting out to take pics has been a challenge for me. Thankfully, I contracted out for a few! I can't wait to hear what J-Boy thinks of this one!

And for Double Trouble? Well, Santa doesn't sew things, but Mamma sure does! When I made their Christmas Big Butt Baby Pants, I decided it would be fun for them to have a little quilty for their first Christmas. You know, for seasonal tummy time...

I have now used absolutely every scrap of that red flannel print. There are some really small segments in that binding!☺
And behold... my first completed project since DT arrived! Christmas bibs!

Honestly, why didn't I think of these months ago? I used the same pattern as the every day bibs. Okay, in truth, I used the every day bibs. I flopped down four layers of fabric (2 print, 2 flannel), pinned the spit up stained every day bib in place, and cut out around it. I was rushing so much that I didn't even slow down to use coordinating thread! DT have a tendency to wake up in the middle of projects requiring hands... there was no time to spare!

I leave you with a couple of my favourite Christmas thoughts...

Hope you and yours have wonderful holiday season!

J

Road Trip Case - my version!

Over the Canada Day long week-end, Himself and I paid a visit to our friends, the R family, while they were camping. The girlies of the family, Miss E and Miss O, were the recipients of these quilts (scroll way down!) a few years ago. I love making things for them... they're such creative (and appreciative) girls. Miss O came out of the family trailer at one point with the marker roll I made for her at least 5 years ago - stocked with cool new art pens.  Miss E doesn't normally get excited about crafts, but she's an avid Rainbow Loom-er these days! Woo hoo! A reason to buy Noodlehead's Road Trip Case pattern. It's perfect for Miss E's Rainbow Loom addiction and comes with an alternative pocket set-up that will work nicely for Miss O's art supplies.

Miss O is a big fan of teal... so I wanted to make sure it made its way into her case. I bought this hipster glasses print a while back with no purpose and thought it would work nicely for a increasingly grown-up, soon to be 8th Grader. The Domino Dots have been hanging out in my stash for a while. Time for them to become something!

I do love an excuse to use my Wonderclips! This time they kept a really skinny bit of binding attached to some pesky clear vinyl.

You can hardly see it, but the binding I made in the above pic is attached to clear vinyl. It made adding a zipper quick and easy (but is hard to see in a pic)!

I love how the interior pockets turned out. Thank goodness Q-D was there to walk me through those pleats. Another something new for me! The larger pockets are just the right size for pencils and pens.

The supply list called for me to buy bias binding, but I figured I could make my own from stash fabric. Again, Q-D helped me out a little! Ultimately, I ended up binding it just like a quilt - stitching the binding onto the interior and pulling it to the front to be hand sewn. I didn't want to attempt hand stitching through that vinyl pocket!

And the finished product!

 I wasn't super sure about the coral zipper, but now I love it!

 Took a good dig through the button box to find this one!

Thought those Domino Dots together might be a little much, but you don't see too much of the magenta...

I'm looking forward to using more Noodlehead patterns. The instructions were clear and concise and though it didn't feature a pic for every step like Elizabeth Hartman (Oh Fransson!)'s patterns, the diagrams were really helpful. It's well worth the $6.50 price tag. I love an instant download! I also love that she provides the materials list before you buy... it gives you a good idea of what you're getting into.  I couldn't resist making one for myself from the fabric I picked up at Patch Halifax. This one went together even quicker and just needs binding to finish it off. EPP to go, anyone?

 I do love those owls... the print is called Barn Owl, but they say Snowy Owl to me!

I can hardly wait to get started on Miss E's version...
I'm linking up today with Show Off Saturday @ Sew Can She. (Thanks for the heads up, Anja!)
 
J